Fantasy NASCAR rankings: Pure Michigan 400

August 20, 2011 @ 09:03:54

By Brian Polking

There is a lot for fantasy owners to love about the front row for Sunday's Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway. Roush Fenway Racing teammates Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth swept the top two spots in qualifying and will now try to parlay the track position into a trip to Victory Lane. Given the records of both drivers at the 2.0-mile track, there is a good chance one of the will be celebrating when the checkered flag waves.

Granted, Biffle has had a miserable year, especially by his recent standards. However, he is sitting on the pole at a track where he has won twice. More importantly, he has led the most laps in each of the last two races at MIS. As bad as Biffle has been, a win Sunday would thrust him right in the middle of the wildcard battle. His playoff hopes are more or less on the line this weekend, and the extra motivation could be what he needs to seal the deal.

Kenseth is searching or his third win at Michigan as well, and after qualifying on the outside of the front row, he should have jumped to the top of the list as far as fantasy options go. He is one of those drivers that rarely qualify in the top 10, let alone on the front row. When he does start near the front, Kenseth is almost always a factor for the win. Considering he finished second by less than car length at MIS in June, owners have every reason to be optimistic about his chances.

Rk	Driver	Car No.	Make	Sponsor	Team	Starting Pos
1	Denny Hamlin	11	Toyota	FedEx	Joe Gibbs Racing	11
2	Matt Kenseth	17	Ford	Crown Royal	Roush Fenway Racing	17
3	Kyle Busch	18	Toyota	M&M's	Joe Gibbs Racing	18
4	Carl Edwards	99	Ford	Aflac	Roush Fenway Racing	99
5	Greg Biffle	16	Ford	3M	Roush Fenway Racing	16
6	Tony Stewart	14	Chevrolet	Office Depot	Stewart-Haas Racing	14
7	Jeff Gordon	24	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger	Hendrick Motorsports	24
8	Jimmie Johnson	48	Chevrolet	Lowe's Home Improvement	Hendrick Motorsports	48
9	Kevin Harvick	29	Chevrolet	Budweiser	Richard Childress Racing	29
10	Kurt Busch	22	Dodge	Shell/Pennzoil	Penske Championship Racing	22
11	Clint Bowyer	33	Chevrolet	Cheerios	Richard Childress Racing	33
12	Ryan Newman	39	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	Stewart-Haas Racing	39
13	Paul Menard	27	Chevrolet	Menard's	Richard Childress Racing	27
14	Brad Keselowski	2	Dodge	Miller Lite	Penske Championship Racing	2
15	A.J. Allmendinger	43	Ford	Best Buy	Richard Petty Motorsports	43
16	David Ragan	6	Ford	UPS	Roush Fenway Racing	6
17	Mark Martin	5	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	Hendrick Motorsports	5
18	Brian Vickers	83	Toyota	Red Bull	Red Bull Racing	83
19	Kasey Kahne	4	Toyota	Red Bull	Red Bull Racing	4
20	Joey Logano	20	Toyota	Home Depot	Joe Gibbs Racing	20
21	Juan Pablo Montoya	42	Chevrolet	Target	Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing	42
22	David Reutimann	00	Toyota	Aaron's	Michael Waltrip Racing	0
23	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	88	Chevrolet	Mountain Dew AMP Energy	Hendrick Motorsports	88
24	Martin Truex Jr.	56	Toyota	NAPA	Michael Waltrip Racing	56
25	Marcos Ambrose	9	Ford	Stanley Black & Decker	Richard Petty Motorsports	9
26	Jamie McMurray	1	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops	Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing	1
27	Jeff Burton	31	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	Richard Childress Racing	31
28	Trevor Bayne	21	Ford	Motorcraft/Quick Lane	Wood Brothers Racing	21
29	Regan Smith	78	Chevrolet	Furniture Row	Furniture Row Racing	78
30	Landon Cassill	51	Chevrolet	Thank a Teacher Today	Phoenix Racing	51
31	Bobby Labonte	47	Toyota	Bush's Baked Beans	JTG Daugherty Racing	47
32	Dave Blaney	36	Chevrolet	Golden Corral	Tommy Baldwin Racing	36
33	Casey Mears	13	Toyota	GEICO	Germain Racing	13
34	Ken Schrader	32	Ford	U.S. Chrome	FAS Lane Racing	32
35	Travis Kvapil	38	Ford	Long John Silver's	Front Row Motorsports	38
36	David Gilliland	34	Ford	Taco Bell	Front Row Motorsports	34
37	J.J. Yeley	55	Ford	TBA	Front Row Motorsports	55
38	Andy Lally	71	Ford	TRG Motorsports	TRG Motorsports	71
39	Tony Raines	37	Ford	TBA	Front Row Motorsports	37
40	David Stremme	30	Chevrolet	TBA	Inception Motorsports	30
41	Mike Skinner	60	Toyota	Big Red	Germain Racing	60
42	Todd Bodine	66	Toyota	RaceHP.com	HP Racing	66
43	Joe Nemechek	87	Toyota	NEMCO Motorsports	NEMCO Motorsports	87

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Brian Polking

Racing has been part of Brian's life ever since he can remember, and he spent his childhood at dirt tracks throughout Ohio and Kentucky watching his father race. NASCAR naturally became his favorite sport, and he has been following the Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series for most of his life. Brian majored in journalism and economics at Ohio State University and becoming a sports writer has always been his dream. Although he has covered everything from minor league baseball to the NCAA tournament, his passion has always been NASCAR. Brian has served as a NASCAR writer for a variety of sites, eventually becoming head editor of the NASCAR section for Fanball.com. His knowledge of NASCAR comes from his life-long love of racing, and he tries to add a personal touch to every article he writes. Brian is always up for talking NASCAR with anyone that wants to. Brian joined KFFL's team in 2011.

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